Hamlet, Malay-fied!

Ever heard of the famous play, Hamlet?
No.
Then, do you know who was William Shakespeare?
No.
WHICH CAVE YOU CAME FROM???
(crazy conversation between two conscious minds in my brain)

Haha...For those who dunno what Hamlet about, here's a gist of the play. It tells the story of a Prince Hamlet, whose father, The King, was murdered by his brother, Claudius, and whose mother married Claudius after the King's death, and he wanna avenged his father's dead by going cuckoo and trying to kill Claudius. There.

Oh, yea. There's also some subplot about how the King's spirit asking Hamlet to avenge him, how Polonius, Claudius' trusted counsellor, got killed, how Ophelia, Polonius' daughter, involved in the whole mess, etc. Then how all the main and supporting characters all died in the end.

And, yea, I suspect Horatio, Hamlet's best friend, is in love with Hamlet. At least, I get that vibe from the play I watched la. Go Wiki it if you wanna know more...

OK, why the Hamlet thingy you may ask? Well, my friend was involved in the staging of Hamlet in Malay, a project from the final year students of the Acting and Directing courses. Well, being a good friend that I am, I went there to support her la. This was my first theater experience and the first play I watched was in Malay. Haiz...talking bout patriotism...Hehe...

The ticket...

The play was being staged at Panggung Sasaran (Target Theater???). The first thought that came out from my mind is this image...

Grand...
High class...

But, instead, I got this...

Old and dirty...
Low class...
Floor-sitting audiences...
See that white apparition? She's the examiner, I believe...

I'll tell the story through photos I took throughout the play.

Began with Horatio seeing the the King's spirit...
...in the castle, with Gertrude, Claudius and Hamlet from left to right...
...Hamlet's ranting out of anger...
...Hamlet continued ranting...
...Laertes warning Ophelia about Hamlet...
...the King apparition telling Hamlet to avenge him...
...Ophelia telling his father, Polonius, about Hamlet's going cuckoo...
...and Polonius spreading the words to Claudius and Gertrude...
...Hamlet acting gila to make them believe further...
...while silently hiring a group of actors to stage his father's death to see Claudius's reaction...
...another private moment between Hamlet and Horatio...

...all of them ready to watch the play set by Hamlet...
...scene from the 'play'...
...trying to kill Claudius but failed, after convinced of Claudius' guilt...
...confronting his mother about her crime...
...Ophelia went crazy (crazy seems like the theme here) after knowing bout her father's death...
...while Laertes went berserk...
...the final act where Hamlet fighting Laertes...
...till breaking the sword...
...Gertrude got poisoned, Laertes and Claudius got killed by Hamlet, Hamlet got poisoned...
...the 'loving scene' between Hamlet and Horatio...now you know why...
...Horatio narrating the final scene...
...before curtain call...

While the acting was great, I had trouble following the dialogues between the characters. Must be my poor command of Malays. So sad. Yea, my friend's the one playing Ophelia.

p/s I watched the play YESTERDAY and were planning to post this entry midnight YESTERDAY but due to the ever-sucky connection here...Haiz...Yea， 雯卿, thanks for your camera...arigato!